CONTROVERSIAL badger culling to tackle tuberculosis in cattle is set to go ahead this summer, after two pilot schemes, in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset, were given the green light – to the outrage of animal welfare groups.

Controversial badger culls in West Gloucestershire and West Somerset wil go ahead later this year

The pilot culls will see the killing of 70 per cent of badgers in each area – many of which would be healthy.

The culls were authorised by Government agency Natural England, with a third scheme in Dorset being prepared as a reserve to prevent any further delays.

The implementation of a vaccine – already applied in Wales –­ is seen as a more humane disease deterrent by many opponents.

The Badger Trust, representing around 60 badger groups, said the cull will lead to around 40,000 animals being "pointlessly killed" over the next four years.

The two pilot culls were delayed last year in the face of bad weather and the discovery that there were more badgers in the areas than previously estimated.

“You could kill all the badgers in Britain and it would not stop the problem of bovine TB in cows,” Queen guitarist and animal rights advocate Brian May argued, speaking exclusively with express.co.uk

“The cull won’t eradicate the problem – they are talking about a possible 16 per cent improvement after 10 years of bloodshed.”

The cull won’t eradicate the problem – they are talking about a possible 16 per cent improvement after 10 years of bloodshed

Brian May

However, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson told farmers at the National Farmers' Union conference in Birmingham that he was committed to making sure the pilots went ahead.

He said tackling bovine TB had cost the taxpayer £500 million in the past 10 years, and costs could reach £1 billion over the next decade if the disease was left unchecked.

He said that research in the UK had shown that culling badgers, which can transmit TB to cattle, could reduce the levels of the disease in herds, and that Britain had to learn from experience elsewhere that the tuberculosis could not effectively be curbed without tackling the problem in wildlife.

The RSPCA’s Chief Executive, Gavin Grant has argued evidence showed that the mass killing of badgers has “little or no impact” on the transmission of the disease.

He condemned the proposed cull stating: “We should be about cure not kill, and at the moment it’s all about kill not cure.”

He added that the “disasterous policy” could even exacerbate the issue if the cull caused infected badgers to scatter out of the areas they are in, spreading the disease further.

Dr May agreed, saying: “A vaccination which will help from day one can not be compared with a brutal method which could make things worse – it’s a no-brainer.”

The move was welcomed by National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall who said it would have been easy for the Environment Secretary to let TB slip down the list of priorities after last year's delay.

He backed Mr Paterson for working to ensure that the pilots were up and running this summer and that there would be a full roll-out of the cull next year. He said the move mattered because of the damage TB did to the country's food production base, and described the 35,000 cattle which had to be slaughtered because of the disease in 2012 as a "scandalous waste".